Special Investigation Unit clears OPS officer after man stabs himself

Ottawa Police Service headquarters on Elgin Street. Photo by ASHLEY FRASER /POSTMEDIA

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An Ottawa Police Service officer who user a taser and pepper spray against a man in mental distress did not commit a criminal offence, the Special Investigation Unit has concluded.

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The SIU is an independent civilian government agency that probes police conduct in incidents involving death and serious injury.

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In a decision released May 1, SIU director Joseph Martino said he found no reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with a self-inflicted knife wound suffered by the 35-year-old man during the arrest in the man’s car.

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According to the SIU report on the incident, Ottawa police officers tried to pull over the man, who was behind the wheel of a car, after receiving a call about a family member in mental distress in the early morning of Jan. 3.

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The man attempted to flee before his car was boxed in by police at Longfields Drive, south of Cambrian Road, at about 12:40 a.m. The man, who said he was infected with spores and fungi, had a knife that he occasionally held at his neck and abdomen. Police realized that the man was only a risk to himself, and put their firearms away.

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An trained negotiator with the tactical team negotiated with the man to drop the knife, but he became less responsive to the  overtures. At about 4 a.m., tactical officers moved in to apprehend the man under the Mental Health Act, smashing the front door windows and discharging conducted energy weapons at the man and pepper spray into the vehicle.

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The man retrieved the knife and suffered a four-centimetre self-inflicted stab wound to the abdomen. The officers took possession of the knife and removed the man from the car. He was transported to hospital by paramedics and treated for a four-centimetre self-inflicted laceration to his abdomen.

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Martino concluded that the negotiations were conducted with care and compassion.

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The force used made sense as it was imperative that the man be incapacitated as quickly as possible to prevent the knife from being used to inflict grievous bodily harm or death on himself or the officers, he found.

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